Much in what he says ...

... or maybe not enough. Or maybe it just needs to be rearranged: LIVING WITH NEGATIVE CAPABILITY. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

... Montaigne, a sceptic who probably had no religious beliefs himself but who used his scepticism to leave open a window to faith.

This is nonsense, which leads me to wonder what exactly it is Professor Gray doesn't understand - Montaigne or faith or both. He should read Donald Frame's biography.

Living with what Keats called 'negative capability' - 'in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason' - requires more nerve. That is why Holloway's approach to questions of faith is so admirable. It is also, I fear, why it will not catch on. Weak religion can never be popular ...

What he and Holloway call weak religion is what I would call sound religion. It is certainly what mine is and it fits Newman's understanding of faith as making us capable of bearing doubt. As for being popular, well it was Jesus who advised entering through the narrow gate. But the point isn't popularity; it's quality. Jesus thought of his followers as the salt of the earth - scattered grains seasoning the whole.